2+ Year Member

It feels so good to be done with the DAT and I’ve been a lurker on these boards for quite some time and figured that I have taken so much that it was my turn to give input although it seems that there is a ton of information about this already here.

There is a ton of material out there and depending on the time you have to prepare for the exam it may be too much material.

Materials Used: (Listed in order of most used to least)
DAT destroyer
Math destroyer
Kaplan’s Blue book
Bootcamp
Barron’s AP Bio
Khan Videos
Campbell’s Biology (text book for reference)

Background: As an undergraduate I studied biology (sGPA 3.8), and took the DAT a year after graduating. At this point a good portion of the details of the organic chemistry reactions elude me and I did not want to go into the exam like this. All the equations from gen chem were long gone at this point with the exam coming up in a few months I pickup a few books to study. 3 months were spent studying for the exam but for the first 2 months I was distracted so the pace was much slower, this changed for the final month before the exam. I highly suggest dedicating at least a minimum of 1 month full time study (min 50 hour study weeks).

Bio: I broke out all my old notes from courses I have taken over the past year (biochem, mammalian physiology, molecular, genetics, developmental bio, ecology) but quickly realized that there was a bit too much detail and many of the broader topics that tend to be focused on the DAT were not covered sufficiently. The DAT destroyer bio was a great resource to pick out topics that I needed to study more on. The Kaplan book/barron books were a good start but still I felt the need for an additional resource so I picked up a previous ed of the Campbell book. This section seemed the hardest to me just due to the large number of topics the test covers.Chem: DAT destroyer was awesome. The questions were on point and any weak areas I would review with Khan video’s if necessary. For the DAT, WATCH THE UNITS!Orgo: Bit disappointed with myself here I definitely choked a bit on the exam but gotta make sure you’re really solid on the ground work before going to the more complicated stuff. I think I lost a few points on numbering for nomenclature but the DAT destroyer questions were very well made. BOOTCAMP was nice resource for getting accustomed to reading questions on a computer screen, and the overall questions were good too.RC: Speed read, and be careful. Personally didn’t do too much here. ADA practice exam and another one from I think Kaplan.QR: Math destroyer was a shade more difficult then the DAT, and I wasn’t looking for anything high here so I stopped after going through it once.PAT: Kaplan’s questions once through, and the ADA sample exams. Just need to be careful and don’t just look for the right answer look carefully for patterns or tricks that help you get through the questions faster. Everyone works differently especially in this section.

To all of you that are still studying for the DAT keep at it, the time is well spent studying for the exam. I am applying this cycle and I know I’m late by SDN’s standards but I am the tortoise. I’ll be waiting for all you bunnies at the finish line.

Best of luck on the DAT and seriously take the night before the exam off. That one extra night will not make up for the weeks of slacking. If you have genuinely been preparing the rest before the exam will your nerves for when you go into the DAT. Definitely bring a snack, and water for the break after the PAT.

It feels so good to be done with the DAT and I’ve been a lurker on these boards for quite some time and figured that I have taken so much that it was my turn to give input although it seems that there is a ton of information about this already here.

There is a ton of material out there and depending on the time you have to prepare for the exam it may be too much material.

Materials Used: (Listed in order of most used to least)
DAT destroyer
Math destroyer
Kaplan’s Blue book
Bootcamp
Barron’s AP Bio
Khan Videos
Campbell’s Biology (text book for reference)

Background: As an undergraduate I studied biology (sGPA 3.8), and took the DAT a year after graduating. At this point a good portion of the details of the organic chemistry reactions elude me and I did not want to go into the exam like this. All the equations from gen chem were long gone at this point with the exam coming up in a few months I pickup a few books to study. 3 months were spent studying for the exam but for the first 2 months I was distracted so the pace was much slower, this changed for the final month before the exam. I highly suggest dedicating at least a minimum of 1 month full time study (min 50 hour study weeks).

Bio: I broke out all my old notes from courses I have taken over the past year (biochem, mammalian physiology, molecular, genetics, developmental bio, ecology) but quickly realized that there was a bit too much detail and many of the broader topics that tend to be focused on the DAT were not covered sufficiently. The DAT destroyer bio was a great resource to pick out topics that I needed to study more on. The Kaplan book/barron books were a good start but still I felt the need for an additional resource so I picked up a previous ed of the Campbell book. This section seemed the hardest to me just due to the large number of topics the test covers.Chem: DAT destroyer was awesome. The questions were on point and any weak areas I would review with Khan video’s if necessary. For the DAT, WATCH THE UNITS!Orgo: Bit disappointed with myself here I definitely choked a bit on the exam but gotta make sure you’re really solid on the ground work before going to the more complicated stuff. I think I lost a few points on numbering for nomenclature but the DAT destroyer questions were very well made. BOOTCAMP was nice resource for getting accustomed to reading questions on a computer screen, and the overall questions were good too.RC: Speed read, and be careful. Personally didn’t do too much here. ADA practice exam and another one from I think Kaplan.QR: Math destroyer was a shade more difficult then the DAT, and I wasn’t looking for anything high here so I stopped after going through it once.PAT: Kaplan’s questions once through, and the ADA sample exams. Just need to be careful and don’t just look for the right answer look carefully for patterns or tricks that help you get through the questions faster. Everyone works differently especially in this section.

To all of you that are still studying for the DAT keep at it, the time is well spent studying for the exam. I am applying this cycle and I know I’m late by SDN’s standards but I am the tortoise. I’ll be waiting for all you bunnies at the finish line.

Best of luck on the DAT and seriously take the night before the exam off. That one extra night will not make up for the weeks of slacking. If you have genuinely been preparing the rest before the exam will your nerves for when you go into the DAT. Definitely bring a snack, and water for the break after the PAT.

You Destroyed it! Excellent scores and you will receive a lot of interviews! I love your analogy about being a turtle, waiting for the bunnies at the finish line. You took your time studied properly, not taking any shortcuts and you made it to the finish line unscathed. The DAT Beast was left at the starting gate!